Standard type ironing boards are well known in the art. They are typically large and made of metal. This makes them heavy and hard to move, especially for the elderly or the infirm. They are typically folded or collapsed when not in use, and stored in a closet or an out of the way area. Due to their size and weight, they tend to be rather awkward to carry or move. Using such ironing boards in apartments, trailer homes, or homes of modular construction is often difficult because there is limited room to set up and use the ironing board and few places to store it
To address the storage and ease of use problems, door mounted ironing board assemblies as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,329,860, 4,976,205, and 4,892,611 were made. These door mounted assemblies are associated with several disadvantages. First, the door itself may be rendered inoperable while the ironing board is in use, such that no one can easily enter or exit via the door without slamming the ironing board into an adjacent wall or hitting nearby objects causing damage to the wall and/or the nearby objects. Second, the door may be incapable of supporting the weight of the assembly, especially when coupled with the bending moment created by the user while ironing. This may lead to damage to the door or door frame, as well as the ironing board. Third, the door mounted assembly may laterally shift when the door is swung open and become dislodged. Last, the ironing board assembly is stored on the door, is readily visible to people in the room, and detracts from the general aesthetics of the room. Consequently, door mounted ironing board assemblies are not an optimal solution to the ironing board storage problem.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,573, attempts to alleviate these problems by mounting an ironing board on a swivel bracket in between a washer and dryer. This assembly allows the ironing board to swivel first in a vertical plane, then in a horizontal plane, finally coming to rest on top of the dryer. This swivel bracket assembly creates drawbacks of its own. First, the heavy washer and dryer may need to be moved in order to attach the swivel bracket assembly at the base of the appliance and also to create enough space to store the ironing board between the two. Second, the swivel bracket assembly may not be functional with a stackable washer and dryer, which is commonly found in the types of housing most in need of storage space. This lack of functionality with stackable washers and dryers is due to the ironing board's required planes of rotation; the horizontal rotation may be obstructed by the top stacked dryer and/or the vertical rotation may be obstructed by the closet wall or doorframe surrounding the stackable appliance. Further, where a stackable washer and dryer are both front loaded, leaving no open space between the two, there is no horizontal surface to clamp the swivel bracket to or on which to rest the ironing board.
None of these prior art devices disclose an ironing board that is affixed via magnets, suction cups, Velcro™, or double-sided tape to a home appliance, allowing the user the option to store the portable ironing board mounting assembly on the front of the appliance or easily disengage it from it's mounting surface to store in any other convenient space.